Kurosawa's Last Samurai

By

Chang-Ran Kim

Updated March 3, 2000 12:28 a.m. ET

"H e always lived the life of a samurai," says Hisao Kurosawa of his late father and arguably Japan's greatest film director, Akira Kurosawa. The tradition continues -- in a show of filial piety -- Hisao has produced a film based on the great director's final screenplay. Last fall, exactly a year after his death, the last Kurosawa samurai epic premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and now it is thrilling audiences in Japan.

Of samurai ancestry himself, Akira Kurosawa was familiar with the strength, dignity and...